House of Pain
by Robotics-girl19
Summary: A closer look at Eliot's thoughts during his fight for Molly. This week's story for "The Carnival Job." Obviously, spoilers for "The Carnival Job." Only rated so highly because of violence and I'm paranoid.


**I absolutely loved this episode! It's one of my favorites so far. Obviously, based on this story, my favorite part was the end when Eliot was fighting to save Molly. I really wanted to take a deeper look into Eliot's thoughts and emotions during this intense fight, because he was obviously very injured, yet he kept fighting anyway. **

**Hope you like it!**

**Enjoy!**

**I don't own Leverage.**

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><p>"You are going to be in so much trouble when they find me," Molly said bravely to the man holding her.<p>

"You—" she continued before she was cut off.

"Shut up," the man said, tightening his grip around her.

"Give me a clue, Molly," Eliot ordered. She wasn't in the storage shed like they had thought and now he didn't have any idea where they might have taken her. She was his only hope to find a way to rescue her.

After a pause, no doubt she was getting up the courage to speak again, she said, "I don't like what I see."

It took a moment for those words to sink in for Eliot. With the severe concussion blurring his thoughts and movements, it took longer than it should have for him to remember that she had said the same words earlier that day when referring to looking at her reflection in a mirror. Eliot knew in that moment exactly where she was. He had passed the House of Mirrors on his way to the storage shed.

"I'm coming, Molly," he said as he left the storage shed.

"It's too late, Eliot," Nate told him over the comm. "Daria already has the chip. It's best just to wait it out."

Eliot would have hit Nate if he had been close by. He already had received a severe concussion and probably a few broken fingers in search of Molly, and he wasn't one to go through the pain and not get the reward. At he sure wasn't going to leave that little girl in the hands of her captors any longer than necessary.

"I'm not one to wait," he told Nate shortly.

He found the house easy enough, but upon entering the house, his vision was assaulted with several images of himself. At first, he wasn't sure if it was because of the mirrors or the concussion. He decided it was mostly the mirrors when he saw several images of Molly and her captor. The man with her was holding her around the neck.

"Eliot," he heard her say from somewhere in the house. She sounded terrified. Eliot did his best to remain calm, knowing that the intense anger rising up in him would make fighting even harder. He turned slowly on the spot. He knew there was going to be at least one more person hiding in this house, but where was he?

A split second later, a fist came out of nowhere and collided with Eliot's chin, knocking him down. Eliot groaned and forced himself to his feet. He wasn't giving up that easily. He got to his feet and looked at the Russian. There was three of him, all blurry and moving. Eliot swayed unsteadily on his feet. He punched at the middle of the three, but the Russian grabbed his arm and threw him to the ground again. He got up and threw another punch only to receive the same result.

He groaned again as he fought to keep the headache in check while fighting his enemy. How was he supposed to win when his eyes kept attacking him just like the Russian?

Getting up a third time, he closed his eyes. Eliot knew how to fight, even with his eyes closed. He decided that it would be easier to fight without his sight than having it betray him by showing images that weren't there. He took the extra moments of confusion from the Russian to take a deep breath to center himself.

The next moment, however, he heard the Russian throw a punch. He ducked instinctually. A soft breath from the Russian told Eliot that he was frustrated and confused. He threw another punch, which Eliot dodged expertly. Eliot blocked another set of punches before opening his eyes. If he was going to take this guy down, he wanted to see the fear in his eyes. He needed to see the regret in this man for kidnapping a little girl. He could already see doubt growing in the Russian's mind. Doubt in Daria's plan and doubt in his own ability to fight. Good.

Eliot's punch hit the Russian in the chest before he even had a chance to get his arms up to block. Eliot grabbed his shirt with one hand and the back of his neck with the other and threw him face first into one of the mirrors, shattering it. Then he pulled back and tossed him to the ground like a bag of garbage.

In the mirror's place were Molly and another man. He was holding her around the neck. She looked more scared than he had ever seen her.

Eliot stalked up to Molly and the man. He took a short moment to size up her captor. This man was no fighter. At least not like the Russian. With one punch to the face, he knocked the Russian away from Molly and enveloped her in a hug in one fluid motion. She wrapped her arms around him and started to cry as she finally let the stress and fear come forward.

"It's okay," he told her. "You're safe now. I've got you."

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><p><strong>What did you think? Hope I got it right!<strong>


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